A Love of Stars
by Travelilah
Summary: She is Hermione Granger and she wants to be normal. She wants to graduate without anything exciting happening - which should be possible now that Harry Potter isn't at Hogwarts anymore. But now she begins to wonder, what if was actually the magnet for trouble - with a star near landing on her. A star that turned out to be a Norse god! Rewriting - 17/7/2018
1. Ursa Major

_**Guess who's back, back from out outer space?**_

 _ **Me! You should have changed those stupid locks, you have thrown away that stupid key!**_

 _ **Good, song.**_

 _ **Anyway, Thor is also back!**_

 _ **I rewrote a Love of Stars because I wasn't happy with the initial quality. I feel that it was too rushed and not a true reflection of tale that Hermione and Thor deserve.**_

 _ **Making it much more readable we have to thank - amazing beta! Her feedback is invaluable and she actually has her own wonderful Thor/OC story you should go and read. Go on -gently nudges towards her fic-**_

 _ **Also giant thanks to by Alpha reader: Barney Badger or Bahowle for short.**_

 _A Love of Stars_

Ursa Major

It was abysmally cold. Hermione had noticed fingers of frost creeping up the glass panes of Great Hall windows when she sat down for dinner, but now the chill was palpable and nipping at her like an eager child. She liked to imagine it was the Frost Giants of Jotunheim themselves that were walking the grounds of Hogwarts and spreading their wintery weather.

She watched as her breath swirled up into the cosmos upon the cold night's air. The dropping temperature had only hindered her enthusiasm for stargazing slightly, making her dream longingly of a lovely cup of tea by the fire. Banishing the mirage, she once again craned her head back as far as it would go, ignoring her aching neck and soaking up the splendour of the sky above her.

 _It looks like heaven up there,_ she thought. Tonight was a spectacular sight: bright with thousands of diamonds that were twinkling playfully on the black canvas that they called home. Their light of silvery joy made Hermione feel so alive and peaceful as she basked in their glow. There was no moon that night, as it was at the end of its cycle, which also made it the best time to be out under the night sky–charting the constellations.

She had set herself up on the edge of the Forbidden Forest to do her mapping; using the stump of an old maple tree as her seat, hunching over her charts and maps. While it wasn't the best position in the world for her to be in, it did minimise the amount of movement she would have to make. the bitter autumn winds howled around her like an enraged demon. It made her grateful that she had the forethought to rug up in an extra layer for the night.

Her hands though, in their fingerless gloves, were still colder than the bottom of the Black Lake. It felt like her fingertips were frozen to the quill and nothing less than a long soak in a hot bath would be able to budge the feather from her icicle-like grip.

Only sheer stubbornness and her desire to graduate early kept her anchored to the rotting piece of wood, star chart splayed across her lap. She was working on a specific Astronomy project which was a necessary prerequisite she needed to have completed by early March if she wanted to be admitted to Ravenknot College. It was a magical university on the continent. The main reason Hermione wanted to go there though was that it provided the best course on Ancient Runes in the world–which was what she wanted to gain mastery in. She was hoping to be able to specialise in Norse Runes, as she found the language to be dually intriguing and a challenge to work with.

She glanced down at her map, taking in the crest of the university outlined on the paper. It reminded her of the other reason that she wanted to move away. Moving meant she would not have to deal with the stigma of being a war hero. She was sick of all the attention she had been receiving in Britain after the war. She couldn't take a step down Diagon Alley without being swarmed and mobbed by people wanting an autograph or to shake her hand or to get the scoop on what Harry Potter was really like.

No, she wouldn't have to put up with any of that nonsense at Ravenknot, and the fresh start would do her a world of good. Not to mention she was ecstatic at the thought of being able to study the magic of another culture–Ravenknot was based up in the Scandinavian regions of Europe. Where after no small amount of research she had found the magical practices were based in nature rather than the strict spellcasting of Britain.

It would be a privilege and an honour to study there, but that wouldn't happen if her mind kept wandering off to the far reaches of the universe. She was meant to be staring up at the stars to study the Norse constellations and how they potentially impacted ancient Arithmancy calculations, not dreaming of other galaxies and nebulas.

Frowning at herself, Hermione took in a deep breath of frosty air, letting it fill her lungs, burning her airways. She then exhaled through her mouth and enjoyed the brief bit of warm air that hit the tip of her nose. Mind back on track, she looked up at the sky once more and couldn't help but smile at the fortunate timing of seeing a shooting star streaking across the sky.

She glanced down at her chart to begin marking out the cluster of that stars that made up Odin's Chariot. She had just sketched out the tip of the constellation when she heard a gentle rumble of thunder in the distance followed by a loud roar. At first, she assumed it was the wind and ignored it, but as the sound got louder, she looked up again to see what it was and saw that the shooting star she had spotted earlier was actually still falling, and from the way it was getting closer and brighter, she realised that it was in fact heading in her direction.

A closer look though indicated it wasn't just her direction, but it was going to land right on top of her. So even when the roar reached a deafening level, making it feel like her eardrums were going to burst and like she couldn't' think, she still found it within herself to scurry off the stump and sprint for the shelter of the forest's tree line. She could hardly see where she was going as the blinding light of the star bore down on her, making her skin feel like it was burning up.

Squinting as she ran, she was just able to make out the fuzzy outline of a tree. Her panicked thoughts were a jumbled mess, but one clear message stood out: _Keep running, don't look back._

She had nearly made it to the trees when the star collided with the earth. The blast of the impact came in a tremendous boom, and blowback of wind and air knocked Hermione off her feet. She landed face first in the dirt. On instinct, she curled up into a ball, arms covering her face to try and protect her eyes. As she did so, her left leg managed to graze against a sharp rock. She felt it tear her skin, but she didn't give it any thought, more worried about the world exploding around her.

She laid there for what felt like hours, or maybe it was only mere minutes, she couldn't tell. Eventually, she stopped shaking, and dared to raise her head. Hair covered most of her vision and darkness obscured her ability to take in a lot of detail, but she was able to make out a massive crater in the spot her stump had previously been.

As she looked at the crater, the horror of her stump being scorched off the face of the earth dawned on her. Her maps, her assignment, all of her charts, had been turned into charred ruins. It had taken her _months_ of cold, exhausting nights to make as much progress as she had. And now, they were all gone. Her eye twitched, as she noticed some ash floating around in faint streaks of light that were pulsing above the crater.

The bright white light slowly faded and turned into a crescendo of many colours that danced along the rim of the crater. A miny aurora, she finally realised. She was mesmerised at what she was witnessing because it shouldn't be possible. An aurora this close to the ground? It just wasn't scientifically or magically possible.

Her awe took a sharp turn into terror as she heard a loud bellow of rage come from the sizeable human-like figure that was climbing out of the crater. The figure stopped at the rim of the crater and let rip another roar – the voice deep and full of fury. She flinched at the sheer anger that was being projected.

Staying mostly curled up in a ball, she tilted her head, in hope of getting a better look at the being that had crashed to earth. But it was still too far away and dark for her to make out any real details. But she was able to hear a lot better. She was able to tell that the roaring had changed in tone, going up and down.

 _Words, you idiot. It's speaking_ , she realised. Forcing herself to concentrate, Hermione realised that he was actually shouting words. But not in English. They sounded familiar and rang a distant bell in her mind but she couldn't quite grasp what they were until she remembered the texts that she had been studying of late. This being was speaking Ancient Norse fluently.

Her reading and writing skills for Ancient Languages had always been her strong suit and her speaking skills nowhere near on par, but she still had an ear for accents and knew enough to tell the difference between the modern language and one from the past.

She had to strain her ears and her brain to make out but she was able to _just_ interpret what was been shouted up to the sky by the being.

"Why do you cast me out again, Father? Father, answer me!"

She furrowed her brows. She couldn't believe she was thinking this, but, was the star a _man_? From the outline and general shape of the being though, she would have to say so.

 _A furious man_ , she observed, if his cries of anger were anything to go by. Her brain was refusing to process what was happening though. Because it shouldn't be possible. Shooting stars were meant to be rocks, if anything, not flesh or anything sentient enough to be able to speak or yell menacingly at the heavens, such as this case. But the universe always did like to throw the odd and weird things at her, so this being in front of her most likely was the star.

Another shout pulled her from her thoughts. "Father, bring me back! You need me!"

It was a bit sad, to be honest—watching the Star Man shouting up at the heavens and to receive no answer. There was only the gentle whoosh of the breeze which had returned after the dust had settled from his crash.

Seemingly getting frustrated at this "father" person, the man stumbled around for a bit. Appearing to be searching for something on the ground. He—or at least she assumed a _he_ from the deep voice—had begun calling out for someone different. It almost startled Hermione to realise that at some point he had started speaking English.

"Hammer! Father, where have you sent my hammer?"

 _A hammer?_ This being was getting stranger by the minute. He walked a full circle around the crater searching for the tool. When he was out of sight, she took the chance to raise herself up into a crouching position, so she could be ready to run for the cover of the forest if things got ugly.

Shortly, he came back to where she could see him. The aurora lights were also back to dancing around him, and her breath left her body in a rush, as she took the man - no, the angel, in. Because that was the only thing that made sense for him to be or maybe even the Devil, because the bastard had nearly killed her and had shredded up all of her notes.

A star that had fallen that was a perfectly formed, human-looking man. The only imperfection she could see on him was a dirty red cloak and long unkempt long blonde hair. His face was stunning, and his physique would be no doubt just as impressive. But what held her attention was the sheer size of him.

He was _huge_.

He was also starting to make his way to where she was. Not wanting to be trampled on by the disoriented star, man, angel—Merlin, whatever he was!

She made herself get up slowly, as to not startle him with the sudden movement.

He did spot her as soon as her head peaked above grass height and started crashing over to her, calling out the same thing again, a sad note to his voice this time though. "Hammer?"

She cleared her throat and gathered her courage to her sticking place. "No, I'm not Hammer. But are you alright, Mister?" she asked, concerned that the man seemed to now be repeating the same word over and over again.

Walking in a zigzag line until he was a few feet away from her, he came to a standstill and looked down at her.

Merlin, this close she could feel the energy pulsing off him. She still didn't know what he was but knowing where he came from - she knew it wasn't from around here.

He met her eyes for a few seconds, and she gasped at the white glow of his. Electric white and when he blinked they shifted to a soft baby blue, before charging back up to white again. Well, that wasn't normal and just another confirmation she had no idea what she was dealing with.

His gaze wandered off her eventually, and he began to look around her, no doubt looking for the hammer that he was so desperate to find. Staying rooted in place, she made another attempt to get his attention. "Excuse me, are you okay? Do you need help?"

The man's gaze snapped back to her, and he looked mighty confused as if trying to decipher what she was saying. "Hammer?" he asked her directly this time.

"No," she said, shaking her head, and then gesturing to herself, just to make sure that the blonde giant got her point, "Hermione, not Hammer. Her-mii-oo-nne."

"Hammer?" She slammed her hand against her forehead. This was going to be difficult if he stuck to repeating himself.

"No," she said slowly, shaking her head and pointing to herself again, "I'm Hermione." He blinked which she took as a sign that he might be understanding her. With that small bit of hope she pointed to him and asked, Who are you?"

"Hammer?"

"Sweet Odin—" she started to curse but was cut off by the snarl of the man.

He literally growled and then began to charge at her, full speed. Not having but a split second to think, Hermione held out a hand and shouted the first spell that came to mind. " _Petrificus Totalus_."

The giant man became as still as a statue for a moment, as the spell hit him in the middle of his broad chest, before he fell back, arms and legs snap rod straight. Lowering her hands which had risen up to cover her face, Hermione looked down at what she had done and sighed in relief.

She was safe. No angry blonde giant to rampage at her.

With him down and not moving, she took the chance to try and get a closer look at him. Timidly tiptoeing over to the hulking being, she still kept a safe distance before she took him in.

As she had suspected, he was quite lovely to look at, but upon closer inspection now, she could see that blood was also in his hair, and from the look of it, he had a head injury. That would explain the odd behaviour at least.

She put her hand inside the pocket of her woollen overcoat to pull out her wand but stopped as another loud cackle, like the first one from the falling star, sounded off in her ear. Her instant reaction was to crouch down into a little ball, bracing herself for the second impact, but the loud boom never came. She waited for at least two minutes, but there was still no seismic shakes from the second star or any light actually.

Daring to raise her head up, she saw that in the distance between her and the blonde was a giant mallet of all things, had landed in between them. Hermione didn't know how to process that.

How had that thing fell without a sound? Nor could she understand how it was glowing with Norse runes.

A grunt from the man had her snapping out her reverie and back to the situation at hand. She had an injured being that was in need of medical attention and with her being the only one around, the task fell to her. Dutifully she successfully pulled out her wand this time and waved it at him. He raised a few feet off the ground, and she made to walk him back towards the caste for some healing, but she stopped before she even made it a yard.

Pulled back by her conscience, Hermione ran back to the mallet thing and looked at it. She figured that this was most likely the hammer the bloke had been calling out about. It would probably be handy to have near if she needed to calm him down or to potentially defend herself. But how was she meant to carry the thing? It looked like it weighed a tonne...well she wouldn't know unless she tried. Bending down, Hermione grabbed hold of the leather bound handle and felt a shocking zap of warm energy pulse up her up her arm.

Not paying any heed to it, she gave a gentle tug and it didn't budge. Which again wasn't a shock, given how much the thing probably weighed. Stashing her wand back into her pocket, she placed both hands on the handle now and gave braced herself, legs square apart and put her back into heaving it up.

Even with all of that effort, she wasn't able to raise the thing any more than an inch. Letting it fall back to the ground with a loud thud, she flexed her hands to get some blood back into them. Her lack of strength and weak grip, probably due to the cold. Feeling like she had her blood pumping, she got back into the same stance and pulled…

"Gah!" she shouted in frustration as she couldn't lift it any higher. Grabbing her wand, she aimed it at the thing and with a familiar swish and flick...it didn't budge. Of course, Star Man's mallet wouldn't be moved with her magic.

Maybe, it was because it already had an enchantment on it, as she recalled it was glowing with Norse runes all over earlier. Sucking on her lip, she figured it could be worth a shot to see if she could get them to show up again.

" _Revelio_ ," she muttered and held her breath in anticipation to see if the spell would do anything.

She waited for about ten seconds before letting out a huff of air. Well, it wasn't unexpected as Wingardium Leviosa hadn't worked on it, but that left her with the problem of what the hell she was going to do with it and how was she meant to carry it?

She didn't have time to think her of anything else in case Star Man came to, which left her with the most distasteful option of dragging it off to someone safe and out of sight until she could go back and grab it later, once the man his injuries looked at by Pomfrey.

Sighing, Hermione rubbed her hands together and pulled with all of her might on the hammer and started making her way towards the forest. She had made it halfway when she heard a grunt coming from the man, and she flinched.

 _Thank Circe, just a false alarm_ , she thought to herself. But it was still a good reminder that the spell wasn't going to hold for much longer, so she needed to pick up the pace.

She was drenched with sweat, under her many layers, by the time she had the hammer safely shoved up against the closest tree she could find. She was exhausted by the physical exertion of dragging it so far. It honestly did have to weigh a tonne.

She bent over, hands on her knees trying to catch her breath for a second. As she was panting, she hazily managed to remember that she would need to cast concealment on it otherwise whoever was strolling by during the day might find it.

Hermione never got around to cast the spell though, as she heard a low rumbling coming in the distance. She instantly looked up, worrying that it was going to be another being falling out of the sky. But as the sound got closer, she was able to make out that it wasn't coming from upwards...which left, the forest.

"Shit," she cursed, as she realised just what the sound was and why it sounded so familiar. She hadn't heard it since the fifth year, but you never did forget what a pack of centaurs on the run sounded like, and it was definitely hooves pounding against the ground in a gallop. What was worse though, they were getting closer and closer by the second.

Not wanting to be trampled or be caught in their crossfire, she started to sprint back to the man, eager to get them out of there. She hastily threw another, " _Wingardium Leviosa_ " at him before taking off towards the castle as fast as she could.

As she ran, the man bobbed along beside her. She felt slightly bad that his hair, so long and blonde, was dragging along the ground and most likely picking up all sorts of muck, but her primary concern was not being around centaurs and getting out of sight as quickly as possible.

But no matter how fast or far she ran the sound of hoofbeats still followed, meaning that they were chasing after her. Not good. Not good. Not good!

Pushing herself to go faster, she willed her legs to move and to not give in, not yet.

She was getting tired, so tired...the running and the dragging from earlier...

But the castle was in sight she just had a bit more to go…Merlin, the sound of hooves was right behind her, they were so close, she could hear the heavy breathing of the centaur. Closer and closer he was getting.

 _What do they want?_ was her last thought as she felt something hard collide with the back of her head and she once again saw stars.


	2. Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor

She was having an out of body experience.

That was the only possible explanation for what was going on. Because there was no other way for her to be looking down at the Centaurs and seeing them poke and prod her prone form with the tips of their bows. They seemed to lose interest in her quickly, dismissing her in favour of the more exciting being that remained floating in mid-air.

She was stuck looking at the arse end of about three Centaurs for a bit, as they gathered around the blonde star man, seeming to be discussing him at great length. Not that she could make out what they were saying, all the noises in her current state sounded like they were far away and on the other side of a very thick wall, muffled and indecipherable from general background noise.

The Centaurs eventually looked over their shoulder and parted the circle to make way for quite a scarred up Centaur who had the bearing of the herd leader, if she had to guess. He walked over her body like she was nothing and straight of to the man, who was not hovering as high off the ground as he had at first, her spell fading, as she had suspected it would.

The in-charge Centaur nodded his head to the others and then somehow managed to lean over quite gracefully to all grab a section of the man. It took about one of them for each limb, which wasn't a surprise given the sheer size of him. Moving in coordination, she was able to barely see that they were, in fact, typing his legs and arms together. Once he appeared to be fully bound, two of them were able to reach over and grab him up and carry him off into the forest.

Hermione remained floating if that is what you would call it, in her astral state, unable to stop them from kidnapping the man. She tried to will herself back into her body, but that didn't work.

Instead, she seemed to go higher and higher, rising above the clouds and the castle.

She was now swimming amongst the stars and seeing all of the constellations that she had been trying to study up close. There were even a few odd ones that she had never seen before. She didn't have time to get a closer look as she was moving forward so quickly - past other solar systems and numerous other worlds. She eventually ended back up at the end of the Milky Way resting just above what she had to guess was Pluto. She couldn't see Earth in the distance.

How the hell was she meant to get home? Apparating sure as hell wasn't going to be an option.

She tried walking and wiggling forward, but it didn't have any impact on getting her moving forward. She was starting to panic, she was going to be stuck in this limbo forever, but as she also began to feel herself getting heavier and she got the feeling of falling, except she wasn't...maybe she was…

Down and further down...slipping back into her body…

No longer amongst the stars, she could feel the cool breeze of the wind and the throbbing of her head. She did not doubt that she was going to be concussed from the solid hit the Centaur had managed to get her with. Groggily she opened her eyes and found that she was lying on her back, night sky above her, no signs of falling stars or anything.

Maybe that's all it was, a dream. I somehow hit myself in the head and imagined it all, she mused hopefully to herself, but it was quickly dashed when she turned her head and was startled when her nose brushed up against something.

She could tell it was bitterly cold metal, but she was struggling to focus on what the object was, her vision blurry still. She blinked in confusion trying to get a better look at what it was. Slowly her vision stopped being so blurry.

"Oh Merlin," she muttered when she realised what it was.

That bloody oversized hammer was intimately pressed up against her face. How it had gotten there she didn't know or care, right then she just wanted it gone, so she had room to breathe and figure out what the hell just happened and what was going on in general tonight because it was utterly mental so far.

Rolling over to the other side, she simultaneously shrieked and flinched as she saw it had floated over and was once more pressed up to her face. Merlin, she was over that mallet and the trouble and pain it had brought her so far.

Eager to get it out of the way, she tasked herself with sitting up. It was a struggle, but she managed. Being vertical also brought on more pain, her head pounding and pressure in her ears.

She glanced over in the distance and saw for sure that the star man was indeed gone.

Her mind struggled to process what that meant. Circe; she never had any inkling of Seer abilities or any of that Divination nonsense. But that vision…

As reluctant as she was to accept it as truth, it was the most logical explanation for what had happened to the man and as to why the mallet had been floating beside her.

Merlin. People were falling from the sky. Magic hammers and centaurs: all of this in one night. All she needed now was for Harry to walk out of the forest. As this kind of chaos was something you expected with the Chosen One around. But who knew, maybe he had rubbed off on her, and she had become a magnet for trouble.

Still feeling very unsteady and woozy, Hermione knew she couldn't lie there forever. She had to move; she had to get up to the castle and get help to find the man and get him back from the Centaurs. Knowing what they had done to their last captive...Not that Umbridge hadn't deserved it, she hated to think of anyone innocent going through such a thing.

Putting her hands to her sides, she bit her lip in concentration as she raised herself onto her knees. Her whole body ached, but she eventually managed to get herself up and stand. Taking one steady foot in front of the other she began the dreaded slow walk back to the castle.

Halfway back she realised that she had an unexpected companion. The hammer was there, floating in front of her, almost like it was trying to block her way.

Her suspicions were proven correct when she made to take another step, and the mallet zoomed up to hover right in front of her face. She waved her hands at it, trying to make it shoo, but it remained floating in front of her.

"Shooo," she hissed at it, trying to wave it away, hoping that as an apparent magical object that it would get the gist of her words.

If it did though, it chose to ignore her, because it didn't budge. In fact, it pressed up against her face, the force of it making her take a step backwards. She turned her head so that she could spit her next words out to it. "Go away, you silly mallet!"

It sank down to her chest at her words and pushed against it now, forcing her to take quicker steps back. She was getting the impression that it wanted her to turn around. But she wasn't about to let some unknown being's magical apparatus dictate what she should do.

Ducking underneath it, she tumbled forward and made a mad dash towards the castle, her body protesting as she did so. Again, she didn't make it far because the hammer was in her face, waving itself around and hindering her progress.

"I am trying to get help for your owner, master, whatever he is!"

It quivered at her words.

"I can't go back there alone," she went on, "I need backup if I am going into the forest after Centaurs, alright?" Merlin, she couldn't believe that she was talking to this thing, but whatever. If doing so let her get a move on she would sing it a damned lullaby if she had to.

Taking a tentative step forward, Hermione also made sure to point in the direction that she was going. "Castle. Getting help," she nodded as she spoke, "Not much time. Need to help your owner."

The hammer floated closer, and closer. She didn't like how close it was getting. She made to take a step back again, as she did though, it flipped itself upside down, with the strap at the end of it now level with her wrist.

She quickly clued on to what it was planning to do. "Oh no!" she cried, trying to pull back her outstretched arm, but it was too late, the thing had its strap around her wrist.

"Get off," she cried, tried to shake her hand free, but it had no impact.

Hand out in front of her, the hammer took the lead and dragged her quickly towards the forest. Hermione struggled with all her might, but she wasn't able to shake the thing off its course. It had been tugging at her for five minutes, and they were well and deep in the forest now, the trees thick with moss and age.

They eventually came to a halt, just behind an embankment and a fallen tree. The hammer slipped itself off her wrist, and she snatched her wrist back, holding it against her chest, in case the thing got any other ideas. It seemed to forget she was there though, as it hovered in place, just behind the log. Curious as to what it was doing, she too crept closer until she was pressed up against the trunk.

Peering over the top of it she was able to see the bloody Star Man sitting on a log of his own surrounded by a group of Centaurs and they appeared to be...listening to him talk?

"What?" she said aloud.

She raised her hands to her mouth in shock once she realised what she had just done. Damn well given away her position is what.

If all of the Centaurs heads whipping around to stare in her direction was anything to go by.


	3. Orion's Belt

Orion's Belt

She was in so much shit right now.

She had just given away her position because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut.

She started to panic as one of the Centaurs entirely turned in her direction and raised their bow is well, arrow notched and trained, ready to fire if they saw her or heard her again. They were also starting to slowly creep closer to where she was crouched behind the log.

Hermione had to move now; before she got captured and interrogated, which they would be very likely to do once they recognised her and remembered that she had trespassed into their territory years before. Centaurs were known for holding grudges – that she had learnt the hard way. Backing away slowly, she ended up making even more noise as she stood on a twig, and it snapped loudly. She bit her cheek and held her breath as the crack echoed around and drew the rest of the group's attention and caused even more Centaurs to stand up and regard her general area with suspicion.

Thankfully, they were distracted from her as the hammer zoomed in, flying right by them.

Using the timing to her advantage, she dashed over to another tree and hid behind it. Once more she crouched down, making sure this time to not stand on any more bloody twigs. Daring to peek around the edge of the tree, she could see the hammer had gone straight into the man's outstretched hand, and he wielded it like it weighed nothing. He held it up to his face and appeared to be examining it, twisting it one way and then the other. Satisfied that it was all in one piece and happy that there was no damage, the man went to set it back down beside him.

Assuming that the noise had come from the hammer, the Centaurs relaxed their stances but remained wary. She breathed a sigh of relief. She would be safe for the next few minutes, or so she thought.

The tree that she was leaning against was shedding its bark still, in preparation for winter and the pieces she had been leaning on cracked and fell away from the tree. She scrunched her face up. Really?

Resuming their defensive stances, and bows raised to her new spot, one of them called out to her this time. "Show yourself," came the deep voice of a chestnut Centaur, his English heavily accented.

She didn't move. If she didn't run, maybe they would think it was just the forest itself and not an actual person lurking around their campsite.

But with how rotten her luck had already been tonight, that wouldn't happen. As another Centaur called out, "We know you're there, come out!"

Damn, she was running out of options. She could try levitating herself up into the tree as they wouldn't be able to reach her there, but then they would be likely to sense her magic and know for sure who or what she was. That would do nothing but strain the already tenuous truce that Hogwarts had struck with the Centaurs after the War. They had not been impressed with the foul acts of Voldemort in their forest, and had as a whole blamed the magical community, so a ban had initially been put in place, but eventually with a few kind words from Hagrid – it had been negotiated down to a general ruling that magic folk were not to go any further than two hundred feet into the forest and here she was, a couple of miles in.

Seeing no other option other than to come out of hiding, Hermione slowly stepped around the tree, holding her hands up in surrender, making sure that they could see that there wasn't a wand in her hand. Once she was within view, they drew up their bows, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

It was naturally quite dark in this forest and at most, they would be able to make out that she was a female, student from Hogwarts, but hopefully not any facial features. But star man had to go and ruin her hope, as he pointed the hammer in her direction.

"I know this mortal. She is the one who bespelled me when I first landed!"

He stalked towards her and stopped in front of her. She had to crane her head back to try and look at his face, as he stood what felt like miles above her.

"Yeah, look, sorry about that," she mumbled, unconsciously rubbing the back of her head at the awkwardness.

The man just grunted and continued to stare at her. Merlin, what else did he want her to say?

Her ire was interrupted by the Centaur that had been looking back and forth between Star Man and her. "You know this person?"

It took a bit for it to click with her that the Centaur was addressing her.

"Oh, um, not really? I mean I saw him fall," she rushed to explain. "I don't really know him from any other star, man – person, I mean. Listen, I am not even sure what he is, to be honest with you…" she gestured hopelessly towards the giant that was still towering imposingly in front of her.

"Are you mocking me, mortal?" the man roared his question at her, apparently offended by her words.

Hermione took a step back at his shout.

"Sorry Mister, no offence, you just crashed out of the sky, I thought you were a star and-" she cut herself off, only feeling like she was making herself look more foolish as each time she spoke.

"I do not care who you are! I demand to know what you did to me and how you know my father!"

Okay, now she was baffled. How did she know this guy's father? She didn't recall meeting any fatherly angelic beings in her time. As she came out of her thoughts, she noticed that the Centaurs were unnervingly studying her and giving her stern glances. They looked amongst each other, communicating silently in their language. One of them pawed their hooves against the ground, and the other let out a very horse-like huff.

The one that had spoken to Hermione last gave the rest of the group a nod before they took off, galloping away into the night. _Uh, what?_

She glanced at the remaining Centaur hoping to find some answers about what was going on now.

Catching her gaze the Centaur nodded his head at her, almost like a bow, but no they would never bow to a Witch so it couldn't be that. But as he raised his head, he spoke in a slow, deliberate voice. "The time is not right yet for the fallen star and moon to meet."

She raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"The time is not right," he said again, before starting to turn and trot away.

"Whoa, whoa, wait," she called after the creature. "What do you mean the time isn't right? Are you just going to leave us here?"

The Centaur didn't look back at her words and picked up the pace to a gallop until all she could see of him was a shadowy outline amongst the trees.

 _Great. Just great,_ she sarcastically thought.

"Do not worry, young maiden. I can protect you," the man said confidently. Hermione whipped around and scowled at him.

"It's your fault that we are in this mess in the first place, you oaf! I was minding my own business, charting the stars and you had to go and land on my chart, ruining my work and dragging me into this chaos. I do not want any part of it!" She turned on her heel and made to march back to the castle, praying to Merlin that she was heading in the right direction.

Behind her, she heard the deep chuckles of the blonde giant. Her eye twitched. Of course, he would find her anger amusing. The loud thuds of footfalls behind her told her that he was catching up to her and she spun around just before his hand was about to come down on her shoulder.

"Just who the hell are you anyway?" she growled, her temper getting the best of her.

The obnoxious man smiled down at her. "I am the mighty Thor," he said before frowning at her. "I also require your help."


	4. Sagittarius

Sagittarius

Hermione blankly looked up at the man. "No," she said quietly, before proceeding to sidestep him and continue walking back to the castle.

"No?" she heard him parrot.

She rolled her eyes and didn't bother to respond. She was not going to be drawn into an obscene argument with the apparent mythological Norse God, as he had called himself.

He came to a halt. "You refuse my request for assistance?" he asked her, sounding incredulous that someone had bothered to say 'no' to him. "You can not-"

Sick of hearing his voice, she cut him off. "I very much can, so no, I will not help you," she called out over her shoulder.

"You dare to refute the command of a god?" There was that ego again. Sure, he may have fallen from the sky, but there was no way he could be a god. She may exist in a world of magic, but some things were beyond the realm of possibility.

"I very much dare," she snarled, not bothering to look back this time. "I have already done you enough favours for tonight."

"I order you to halt," he shouted to her, his voice finally faint from the decent amount of distance she had put between them and the fact that he had thankfully stopped following her.

"I decline," she hollered back venomously. She drew the line at being ordered around. She heard the thrum of the hammer gliding through the air from behind her and did a well-timed duck as it flew past where she had been moments before.

The hammer overshot its mark but soon swung back around in an arc and pelted back towards her, before coming down on her chest and shoving her down into the ground, the weight of it tenfold what it had been earlier.

In a few strides of his long legs, he was at her side again and looking down at her once more.

"You test my patience, mortal woman. I will ask this once more. I need your assistance." Hermione literarily growled. She was done with tonight; she was done with him and this stupid hammer. Wriggling around as much as she could, she brought her hand up, trying to shove it off, but as she did it only weighed more and more. Soon it began to hurt her chest, but she didn't care.

She kept shoving at it.

"You are only making a fool of yourself," he said in a bored tone.

"You are only making me angry," she hissed back.

He crouched down beside and rubbed his hand with his chin as he observed her. "You are quite comely for a sorcerer." Hermione froze. What the hell did he just say?

He reached a hand out to wrap around the handle of the hammer and made very awkward eye contact with her. "I will remove my hammer if you agree to help me find shelter and-"

"No!" she shouted up at him, resuming her squirming.

Glowering, he set his jaw and grabbed the hammer. "Very well; we will do this the hard way then."

The hammer started to glow in Norse runes and she felt massive relief as the man lifted it up from her chest. With the immense pressure gone, she began to take in huge lungfuls of air - gasping and retching as she did so.

Still coughing, her gaze was drawn to see his eyes had started glowing the same blue of the runes on the hammer and little sparks of magic ran along his arms and over his knuckles that were going white from their grip around the hammer. The crackle of lightning and rumble of thunder filled her ears once more.

 _Merlin, he has to be channelling magic through that mallet_ , she thought.

One thing she did know for sure though, whatever was going to happen next wouldn't be right, but a small part of her did have to admit that he looked good doing it. He did give off a very nordic god vibe, she had to admit, with his physique and colouring, but even all of the magic in the world or good looks would not be enough to convince her that he was 'Thor'.

He raised the hammer a bit higher again and then angled it down at her directly now, standing up to his full height as he did so. The arcs and sparks of magic only grew larger as they flew off him, their cackling sound akin to muggle electricity.

She had no idea what was going on, but she needed to find out. "What are you doing?" she wheezed as she stood up, her lungs not liking her movement.

In response, Star Man threw another command at her. "You will help me seek shelter, mortal, or you shall suffer my wrath, and I will smite you with all the power of Asgard!"

His voice was deep and booming; the vibrations of it echoed around her and rang in her eardrums. But for as high and mighty as the display and act were, she still wasn't scared. She had not bowed to Voldemort, and she would not stoop to this man, even if he had fallen from the sky and it would probably be a good idea to do so.

"I command it." This time when he spoke, the lightning arched off him and made its way to her, but only just fell short by mere inches.

She glanced over at the fried bit of grass that was smoking from the magic zap and then looked back up at the man, who seemed to have run out of puff after that little spell or whatever the hell it had been. His hammer was no longer glowing and nor were his eyes. He also had the most baffled look on his face, as he looked down at the hammer.

Furrowing his brows in what had to be concentration, he thrust the hammer in her direction once more and shouted out in a normal voice, "You will heed my command mortal or-" he faltered and frowned as nothing happened.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Are you done?" Probably not a good idea to taunt him, but she couldn't help herself. "Because I am still waiting for the smite."

He shook the hammer a bit, and it glowed for a few seconds but then turned back into its everyday old silver self. "What have you done?" he shouted at her and gesturing to the mallet. "What have you done to my hammer?"

She snorted. "Maybe it's not anything wrong with the hammer, more so the user."

His eye twitched and he clenched his jaw, muscles in his neck cording at the movement. _So he does have some control over his temper, after all_ , she noted in bemusement.

She could see that he was gritting his teeth over her refusal to help him. Apparently, he didn't told 'no' enough in his life or even have a clue as to how to handle a rejection. Not that it came as a surprise to her—from the looks of him she knew there wouldn't be very many women, or men, that would say no to him. Unfortunately for him, she was one of those few that was immune (she liked to think) from those charms. Being cold, tired and sore also helped to keep her resistance and irritation alive.

Taking another step closer, he held his hammer in front of him, level with her head and started another monologue. "Listen well, mortal, for I shall not repeat this again you will undo whatever sorcery you have cast over my hammer and help me find shelter for the night. If you do not, when I get my powers back, I swear upon Vahallah that I will reign down a plague of misery upon this land."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Have you ever tried to use the word, ' _please_ ' before?" she asked, sarcasm noticeably dripping from her voice. But they must not have sarcasm wherever Star Man—wait, no, Thor, as he was calling himself now—was from because he looked quite taken aback by her last response.

He blinked and furrowed his fine blonde brows. "Why would I say that?" he asked, sounding genuinely perplexed. "I am a Prince of Asgard, I need not request for others to follow my orders. They should do so gladly. As should you mortal...unless"—his face lit up with some kind of realisation—"that word is some sort of spell in this realm."

Looking assured of himself, Thor straightened himself up and rolled his shoulders before waving his hand at her in an odd series of gestures.

"What on Earth are you doing?" Hermione asked, utterly confused by what Thor was now up to.

He shot her a dirty look, or she assumed it was and continued to move his hands through the air. She wasn't left to speculate for too much longer as he shouted at her, " _Please_! _"_


	5. Virgo

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Under Construction/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Check back end of July, 2018/span/p 


	6. Aquarius

p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Under Construction/span/p  
p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"Check Back End of July, 2018/span/p 


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